Islanders riot over death in custody

Angry mobs burnt down buildings and threatened to kill police
and media during a riot yesterday over a death in custody on
troubled Palm Island, off the north Queensland coast.

Police took control of the airport, school and hospital after up
to 300 members of the Aboriginal community rampaged over the death
of local man Cameron Doomadgee. Residents torched the island's
police station, lobbed petrol bombs at the police residential
barracks and attacked other government buildings.

Some residents, contractors and public servants, including 22
teachers, were evacuated from the island as police from Townsville
and Cairns were flown in to reinforce officer numbers.

Police last night declared an emergency state, giving them
complete control of the island.

More than 100 police reinforcements were being flown from nearby
Townsville, as well as Cairns and Brisbane, while Queensland
Premier Peter Beattie and Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson called
for calm.

Violence erupted with the release of the results of an autopsy
on Mr Doomadgee, 36, who died in police custody last Friday. He was
found to have four broken ribs and died from a ruptured liver.

Mr Atkinson said Mr Doomadgee's injuries resulted from a scuffle
with police when he was being taken from a prison van.

"There was a scuffle and the police officer and the person who
has died then fell to the ground on some concrete steps," he said,
"and it is my understanding that the injuries sustained by the
deceased person were entirely consistent with that version of
events."

Mr Beattie said he was shocked at the damage on Palm Island and
appealed for calm.

"We're appealing for people to lead. We are prepared to work
with the community but the leaders of Palm Island have got to take
charge and act responsibly to restore some order," Mr Beattie said.
Mr Atkinson was flying to Townsville to assess what Mr Beattie
described as a serious situation.

Townsville-based freelance cameraman Steve Hume, who was caught
up in the riot, said the violence erupted within minutes of a
public meeting about Mr Doomadgee's autopsy.

He said the scene quickly degenerated into a "war zone" when
community leaders revealed the results of the post-mortem
examination.

"I have never been that frightened in my life," he said. "We
looked behind us and they started running towards the police
station, a couple of hundred of them. It just got out of
control.

"It just escalated so fast. In less than five minutes they went
from calm to absolutely ballistic, I've never seen anything like
it.

"They threatened to kill us. We've just done the bolt, we went
to the council chambers and locked ourselves in there."